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Capitals’ Ovechkin Has Second-Hardest Shot Among All-Stars Through 2021-22

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Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is famous for his shot, and after 17 seasons, it’s still among the most dangerous shots in the league.

The NHL revealed which All-Stars have the hardest shots so far this season, and one of Ovechkin’s shots from this season ranks second, clocking in at 99.8 miles per hour. Only Victor Hedman has a faster shot, and his is just .1 MPH more (99.9).

The Great 8 will be among those in attendance for the 2022 NHL All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas, where the hardest shot competition will take place. The Russian is no stranger to the competition and won it back in 2018 with a slapshot that reached 101.3 MPH. He became the first forward to win the competition since Sergei Federov in 2002 (101.5 MPH).

In 2019, Ovechkin’s teammate, John Carlson, won the competition with a 102.8 MPH shot, and Shea Weber won in 2020 with a rocket of a slapper that hit 106.5 MPH. Zdeno Chara, who also laced ’em up for D.C. in 2020-21, set the all-time record in 2012 with a 108.8 MPH shot.

Ovechkin has dished 29 goals and 58 points through 45 games this season, and only a couple of those have come from his office on the power play. Otherwise, he has been finding new ways to score and continuing to expand his skill-set while climbing the NHL’s all-time goals list. He sits at 759 red lights in his career and sits just eight away from passing Jaromir Jagr for third.

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Vegas Golden Knights netminder Robin Lehner also had a run-in with a very hard Ovechkin shot this season that ended up breaking his goalie mask.

“It was a really hard shot to take in the head,” Lehner recalled. “He broke my cage, it was a little scary. You felt the cage kind of bent into the cheekbone a little bit. I was lucky it wasn’t a little bit harder.”